Nelida Nassar  03.27.2026

Since its inception almost 26 years ago, the Monnot Theatre has witnessed numerous, intermittent  periods of war inflicted on Lebanon. Despite the blackouts and the bombs, the Company continues to produce plays for the nation. 

Defying the recent Israeli bombardment of Beirut, I attended Alexander Najjar’s “The White Lie”. The tragicomic play, performed in French and Lebanese Arabic, reflects on the Lebanese youth who were caught up in Lebanon’s civil war, their idealism and stubbornness. A wealthy industrialist decides to send his only son to Scotland to continue his studies, in order to prevent him from taking up arms during the Lebanese Civil War. But the son never boards the plane. While his parents believe he is studying at the University of Glasgow, he remains in Beirut, fighting on the Sodeco frontline alongside an eccentric mix of militias, and with a charming and intelligent French nurse with whom he falls in love. How long can this “white lie” last? Will he survive this dangerous double life?  The play examines the weight of family ties with all the tensions they create between brother and sister, husband and wife, son and parents, as well as sisters-in-law. “As recollections may vary” how does a society, a country remember or forget its social and political fractures? These are some of the raised questions raised by the play.

I find it difficult to write in calm, measured tones about “The White Lie.” It is a dazzling pyrotechnical feat that combines epigrammatic pastiche, political history, survival debate, spoof, humor, and moments of fear and lucidity, as well as song-and-dance — all in just the right proportions. The text itself is a dense web of literary allusions; yet it also radiates sheer intellectual joie de vivre, as if Najjar were delighted to be communicating the fruits of his own researches. Lina Abyad’s production of the piece is staggeringly good. The action occurs on a semi-dark stage split into two sections: the back is the family home while the front is the area where the war takes place. It combines the imagistic power of continental theatre with a respect for the actors.

If I had to sum up the play’s theme in a phrase, it would be the anguish of the memory of war at a time when all physical feeling has departed. The actors’ performance is an astonishing tour de force combining frenetic verbal speed with total sensitivity to the musical rhythm of the text. “A White Lie” offers a sharp, ironic, and profoundly paradoxical re-examination of the beginning of the Lebanese war.  How pertinent! as the country is once more caught up into a new round of war and violence.

The war years serve as a microcosm for the temerity and determination that have ensured the Monnot’s Theatre survival in the face of manifold adversity over the past three decades. Its actual director Josiane Boulos desire is to bring the arts to diverse audiences, to inspire and ask important questions that remains at the heart of what they do.

The White Lie
Text/Script: Alexander Najjar
Directed by: Lina Abyad
Languages: Lebanese and French (with subtitles in both languages)
Venue: Monnot Theatre
https://theatrelemonnot.com